Juno News - December 08, 2019


Hockey is not racist


Episode Stats


Length

5 minutes

Words per minute

154.36948

Word count

832

Sentence count

51

Harmful content

Misogyny

3

sentences flagged

Hate speech

2

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Ron McClain was fired by CTV Sportsnet for comments he made on Remembrance day in honour of fallen Canadian soldiers. The firing of Don Cherry sparked a firestorm of controversy and debate about racism and sexism in the NHL.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Like many of you, Hockey Night in Canada was a staple in my house growing up in Montreal.
00:00:10.680 Saturday night at 8pm would guarantee that the family was gathered around the TV in the living room
00:00:15.460 to listen to the scintillating play-by-play of Danny Gallivan, the dulcet tones of Dick Irvin and Ward Cornell.
00:00:22.680 We watched the games, the speed, the fights, and in those days, the sheer talents of the likes of Jean Beliveau,
00:00:28.420 Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito.
00:00:31.300 In the early 80s, CBC brought on Don Cherry, first as an analyst and later as anchor of Coach's Corner,
00:00:38.340 first with Dave Hodge and then with Ron McClain.
00:00:42.160 The show lasted some 34 years and was a popular spot on the national broadcast,
00:00:47.880 partly because Cherry would take controversial positions that offended some people and pleased others.
00:00:53.900 But throughout those years, Cherry didn't care.
00:00:56.780 He said what he said, and he believed what he believed.
00:01:00.460 Last month, he was fired by CTV Sportsnet, who now have the rights for the NHL broadcast,
00:01:05.660 for comments he made on the Saturday just prior to Remembrance Day.
00:01:10.640 Cherry has long been a supporter of the military and the police.
00:01:14.900 His paternal grandfather, Jack, was a member of the original Northwest Mounted Police.
00:01:19.880 On that fateful Hockey Night in Canada broadcast, Cherry offended some snowflakes by saying that a lot of folks in Mississauga,
00:01:30.120 where he lives, and in downtown Toronto, weren't wearing poppies in remembrance of our military members
00:01:36.200 who sacrificed their lives in the service of this country.
00:01:41.000 Cherry said, quote,
00:01:42.200 You people come here. You love our way of life. You love our milk and honey.
00:01:47.100 At least pay a couple of bucks for a poppy. 1.00
00:01:49.700 These guys paid for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada, unquote.
00:01:54.260 And with that, he was fired the next day.
00:01:57.960 The following week, McClain threw Cherry under the bus
00:02:01.120 and blamed himself for not stopping Cherry, seeing the way the monologue was going.
00:02:06.300 He also blamed his white privilege.
00:02:10.000 The following week, McClain hosted a panel discussing the, quote,
00:02:14.400 racism, unquote, prevalent in the NHL.
00:02:17.260 He had a female on the panel, Sarah Nurse, 0.76
00:02:19.620 and three players of color, including Anson Carter,
00:02:22.800 in what can only be described as 10 minutes and 21 seconds of cringe-inducing television.
00:02:28.040 So I'll tell you a little story from my point of view
00:02:31.260 that will probably lead you first, and then Kwame.
00:02:33.420 When we did an interview a year ago, Kwame and I,
00:02:35.540 after Devante Smith-Helley had to deal with racial agitation,
00:02:39.460 and it was a nice conversation, but I said to Kwame,
00:02:42.020 you know, I don't see you as black. 0.97
00:02:43.500 I don't see Tara as a woman. 0.87
00:02:45.440 And then I realized, there's your white male privilege.
00:02:47.620 You know what, Ron?
00:02:48.340 You don't have to see that because you don't need to see that.
00:02:50.840 And you told me, Kwame, an amazing story about
00:02:53.580 when the kids throw back to hockey night in Canada,
00:02:55.840 as a general rule, they're often all white.
00:02:58.740 And if they're not all white, the whites often have the speaking part. 0.68
00:03:01.740 And it's the same with our Rogers Hometown Hockey.
00:03:03.820 We're so proud of being inclusive,
00:03:05.040 but how many times do we get people of color to pick the three stars?
00:03:09.720 And it was just a real eye-opener that I don't recognize
00:03:12.560 the structural racism or sexism that's going on.
00:03:17.420 This self-flagellation of Canada about racism in hockey is pure nonsense.
00:03:23.540 We are a northern country.
00:03:25.760 The demographic of Canada is primarily white.
00:03:29.220 But I can say as someone who played hockey for more than 50 years,
00:03:33.260 I have played with players of all ethnic backgrounds,
00:03:36.200 and no one was treated any different than any other player.
00:03:39.500 Why is hockey suddenly under this racism microscope?
00:03:44.500 What about the NBA?
00:03:47.360 About 75% of the players in the NBA are black,
00:03:51.360 and blacks make up only about 13% of the population of the United States.
00:03:55.960 Is the NBA racist too?
00:03:57.780 Because that would essentially be the same argument.
00:04:00.320 The reality is that we, as a northern country with cold winters,
00:04:04.960 kids in Canada gravitate towards hockey.
00:04:07.140 When I was growing up, I spent hours every day in the winter on outdoor rinks.
00:04:11.840 It's what we did.
00:04:13.300 In the U.S., kids growing up spend hours on basketball courts.
00:04:17.200 It's what they do.
00:04:18.760 Especially in the inner cities.
00:04:21.000 It is not racist to say that is reality,
00:04:23.980 and explains the makeup of the NBA.
00:04:26.540 Equally, it explains the makeup of the NHL.
00:04:29.720 We're not a racist country, and hockey is not a racist sport.
00:04:33.140 The firing of cherry is little more than an exercise by the oh-so-politically-correct morons
00:04:39.080 who are afraid of the hand-wringers who continually look for ways to get offended.
00:04:43.800 For the record, there is nothing in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
00:04:47.500 that said anyone has the right to not be offended.
00:04:51.380 For True North, I'm Leo Knight.
00:04:53.400 For True North, I'm Leo Knight.